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Primitive Man

Denver’s PRIMITIVE MAN’s music matches its name: a savage, sparse mix of death metal, blackened noise, and doom riffs. The threepiece was formed in February of 2012 by Ethan Lee McCarthy, Jonathan Campos, and Bennet Kennedy (all current and former members of Vermin Womb, Withered, Clinging To The Trees of A Forest Fire, Death of Self and Reproacher). In October of 2012 the band recorded their debut LP Scorn at Flatline Audio with Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Cobalt, Catheter, CTTTOAFF). Scorn was released a collaboration between Throatruiner and Mordgrimm Records. After the release of Scorn, the band parted ways with Kennedy and recruited Isidro “Spy” Soto to temporarily take over on drums for a number of tours/releases before settling on a permanent replacement in drummer Joe Linden in 2015. The band also self-released a three-song EP in February titled P/M.

The unique metal hybridization of Scorn caught the attention of Relapse, who liked the record enough to sign the band and reissue the full-length in summer 2013. Dubbed a “totally malignant sounding record and one that will consume you whole if you’re not careful,” by Cvlt Nation and called “the best worst thing that has ever happened to you,” in an 8/10 review from Metal Hammer, Scorn found PRIMITIVE MAN celebrating a slow-roasted apocalypse through seven suffocating hymns of hatred, disease and sonic deviance. The record put the band on the map for many listeners, and enabled PRIMITIVE MAN to embark on a relentless touring schedule that would soon see the band playing live shows across the US and Europe (often for the vast majority of the year) in company with acts such as Magrudergrind, Weekend Nachos, Hexis, Reproacher, Fister, Celeste, Opium Lord, and Northless. PRIMITIVE MAN also played Denver Black Sky in 2013 alongside Relapse brethren Dying Fetus, Exhumed, Skinless, Iron Reagan, Mammoth grinder, Call of the Void, and Weekend Nachos.

All of Ethan McCarthy’s projects have been prolific, and PRIMITIVE MAN is no exception – the band released four splits between 2013 and 2015, and dropped another bombshell of nihility in 2015 with its Relapse EP Home Is Where The Hatred Is. The EP was well-received by publications including Metal Injection, MetalSucks, Revolver, and Exclaim!, the latter of who stated, “unapologetically bleak and permeated by loathing and hostility, Home Is Where The Hatred Is will either leave you wanting more or contemplating teetering off a ledge.” Despite their primeval, bludgeoning approach, PRIMITIVE MAN wouldn’t exist without their savage awareness of modern humanity: simultaneously old and new, atavistic and groundbreaking, PRIMITIVE MAN stands to redefine current conceptions of hope, faith, and metal music.